Things Change

Chapter 9:

Riley:

"Are you coming in or not?" Grayson asks. "I'm not sure." I admit. He looks over at me with a puzzled look on his face. "Do you want to know or not?" He snaps. The tone of his voice makes me wince so I open the car door following him out. The house was still as breath taking as I remember. When we approach the door Grayson becomes more tense. He takes a deep breath opening the house door. We step inside closing the door. The house is well decorated with marvel floors and beams. It hand a large spiral staircase with a large ceiling window letting in the sunlight. My heart jumps when there is a loud crashing sound followed by screaming between a male and a female. Grayson grabs my hand pulling me up the stairs. There was more glass shattering followed by screaming. Grayson leads the way down the left hallway. "Do you remember when we were at the bridge and I told you about my brother?" Grayson starts to ask. I nod as he stops us outside of a large white door. "This is his room," Grayson pushes open the door letting me step inside. He follows in after me closing the door. I look around the room to notice that it looks like a young kids room. Fifteen or sixteen. Grayson leans against the door, his arms crossed over his chest. "This is the first time I've been in here in years, I could never..find the courage I guess." He speaks slowly. "What happened to him?" I ask. He takes in a sharp breath. "Adam..he's well he's always been the golden child. The one that every parent would be proud to call their son. He did well in school, made friends easily with everyone, and was great in sports especially lacrosse." Grayson explains. "My parents were so proud of him. Hell, I was too. I was proud to call him my brother. Adam, was so ambitious and charismatic." Grayson said a small smile on his face but then it disappeared from his face replaced with a frown. "My parents have always been keen on upholding a good reputation. My father was chairman for a big publishing company and my mom was a great chef but when Adam was fourteen when he was diagnosed with leukemia. This effected my parents the most because they were losing their golden child." Grayson continues. "When Adam was sixteen he died. After that things when from bad to worse. My bad became an abusive alcoholic who constantly cheats on my mom. And my mom is to stupid to stay with him but she's not innocent. She cheats on him too. And she's no better with the drinking. But when people come around for social events they act like this happy loving couple who care deeply about their son." He laughs dryly. "My parents don't care about me. They don't even notice when I'm in the room. Which is fine by me because I hate them both. My parents took all the pictures of Adam down and stored them in the attic. No one come in here anymore or down this hall. This is my first time being in here since." Grayson finally looks at me. Holy shit. I could never imagine losing my brother. I mean yes he was a pain in my ass growing up but I love him to death. "Come on," Grayson grabs my hand. We walk out of the bedroom heading down the hall. The yelling and screaming has stopped. We walk into a room with navy blue walls. There was a large built in book shelf on the left hand side with dozens of books. Across from the book shelf was a bed pressed against the wall. In between both of them was a desk with a laptop sitting on it. Across from the desk was a dresser. "This is your room?" I ask turning to face Grayson. He nods, "Another of my firsts. I normally don't bring girls in here." He says. "Just boys then?" I ask trying to lighten the mood. It clearly works because he grins. "Yes, you smartass." He answers. I roll my eyes looking around the room again walking over to the bookshelf. I run my finger along the middle shelf pulling out one of the books. 'Invisible Monsters' "That one is a bit morbid." Grayson walks towards me. "But it's one of my favorites." He adds. His fingers brush against mine as he takes the book. His eyes meet mine. I couldn't help but stare at his lips. He starts to lean in. I don't know why but I panicked. "I didn't know you liked to read." I say. He chuckles, "I don't seem like the reading type?" He asks. I shake my head. "Well neither do you." He informs me. "You should read the book." He offers handing it back to me. "Thanks." I smile. "Riley?" He asks after a few moments. "Yeah?" I ask. "Don't tell anyone about what I told you. Nothing personal but you're the first person I've told about Adam and my family." He said. "Dido, Grayson." I say which makes him smile.

~~|AUTHORS NOTE|~~

Hello! So I briefly want to tell you guys something, I strongly recommend 'Invisible Monsters' by Chuck Palahnuik. This is the same Author of Fight Club or Lullaby. So if you read either of those and loved them then I recommend this book. I will say this that its a bit morbid. I'll give you a brief summary of Invisible Monsters: It's about a girl who's a fashion model. She basically has everything, a boyfriend, a career, and a really loyal best friend. So this this sudden "accident" on the freeway leaves her speechless and disfigured. And she goes from being the center of attention to being an invisible monster (title) that no one likes to pay attention to because she is so horribly disfigured. She meets this person named Brandy Alexander who is in the process of becoming a women. So Brandy kinda shows her the way and they end up on this amazing adventure on reinventing yourself. With some crazy plot twists and other things thrown in there. It's great.
This story is by far my favorite by Chuck Palahnuik. I will say this if you didn't like fight club or the content in that story don't read it. The book is not for everyone because we all have different tastes and I thought I would recommend it. Anyways, that's all for today.

Lots of love,
~Flowerchild_97